Course Title: Casework and Advocacy

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Casework and Advocacy

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

HWSS1135

City Campus

Undergraduate

365H Global, Urban and Social Studies

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2008,
Sem 1 2009,
Sem 1 2010,
Sem 1 2011,
Sem 1 2012,
Sem 1 2013,
Summer2014,
Sem 1 2014,
Sem 1 2015,
Sem 1 2016,
Sem 1 2017,
Sem 1 2018,
Sem 2 2019,
Sem 2 2020,
Sem 2 2021,
Sem 2 2022,
Sem 2 2023,
Sem 2 2024

Course Coordinator: Christine Craik

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 2940

Course Coordinator Email: christine.craik@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Building 8, Level 10

Course Coordinator Availability: By appointment


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Enforced Pre-Requisite Courses 

Successful completion of:  

012083 HWSS1133 Critical Approaches to Social WorkAND 035667 HWSS2091 Social Work PracticeAND042103 HWSS2164 Ethics and Reflexive Practice
OR
053211 HWSS2228 Youth Work EthicsAND053213 HWSS2230 Youth Work 2

 

Note: it is a condition of enrolment at RMIT that you accept responsibility for ensuring that you have completed the prerequisite/s and agree to concurrently enrol in co-requisite courses before enrolling in a course. 

For your information go to RMIT Course Requisites webpage. 

 


Course Description

Please note that this course has a mandatory attendance component and hurdle requirements in line with accreditation requirements from the Australian Association of Social Workers 

Casework and Advocacy is a core course in the Bachelor of Social Work (Hons), the Bachelor of Social Work (Hons)/Psychology, and the Bachelor of Youth Work and Youth Studies.  In this course you will develop and expand upon your understanding of theoretical frameworks and practical skills for working with people in oppressive situations in different settings. You will consider people within their broader family, social, cultural, legal and psychological contexts with a focus on gender, class, culture, age, sexuality and other power dimensions. You will consider the ways in which the political context impacts on personal oppression and explore the ways in which you will work to assist people in strengthening their personal and collective capacity to improve access to services and build and retain resilience.  

You will develop and build on your practice confidence and skills through role plays, small group work, and other experiential learning activities.  You will be given an opportunity to learn and practice active listening skills and awareness and appreciation of diverse experiences, including from an intersectional perspective. 

For social work students, this course is one of your four major direct practice courses in your degree, together with Social work Practice HWSS2091, Group Work Theory and Practice HWSS2093; and Critical Social Work with Families HWSS2092. 


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Program Learning Outcomes 

In course you will develop the following program learning outcomes:  

Bachelor of Social Work (Hons) - BH105 

  • Apply a body of interdisciplinary knowledge, values and skills in working with and for society’s most vulnerable and marginalised individuals, families, groups and communities
  • Demonstrate creativity, critical thinking and practical reasoning when identifying and solving problems in diverse contexts 
  • Work with others in a range of roles and contexts, demonstrating cultural, environmental and social awareness while promoting respectful, ethical and reflective practice
  • Apply initiative and ethical judgment in planning, problem solving and decision making in your current and continuing professional practice

Bachelor of Social Work (Hons) / Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) - BH106  

  • Apply a body of interdisciplinary knowledge, values and skills in working with and for society’s most vulnerable and marginalised individuals, families, groups and communities
  • Demonstrate creativity, critical thinking and practical reasoning when identifying and solving problems in diverse contexts
  • Work with others in a  range of roles and contexts, demonstrating cultural, environmental and social awareness while promoting respectful, ethical and reflective practice

Bachelor of Youth Work and Youth Studies - BP322 

  • Communicate effectively and professionally using a range of appropriate modalities and genres suitable to broad stakeholders across the Youth Sector, including young people, statutory agencies, families, government and other professionals 


Course Learning Outcomes 

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to: 

  1. Develop your understanding of existing welfare services that work with disadvantaged, marginalised and oppressed people.  
  2. Demonstrate an understanding of social work theories and the ways in which they translate to practice models to facilitate this work.  
  3. Apply practice skills associated with these models 
  4. Critically analyse and appraise these theories and apply these practice models to casework, case management, crisis intervention and advocacy with adults, young people and children.   
  5. Conduct a respectful, empathetic, strength-based interview, including an appropriate assessment, that demonstrates genuine engagement with adults, young people and children. 
  6. Reflect on and engage in practice that prioritises safety (physical and cultural) for both yourself and your service users. 
  7. Understand and respond professionally to heightened emotions, anger and aggression 


Overview of Learning Activities

The format of this course will be a series of online lectures and face to face tutorial/workshops. The tutorial/workshops will be highly interactive and give students the opportunity to engage with experiential learning via videos, role plays, case scenarios, exercises, self-reflection and discussion.   

This is a practice skills course and you are expected to listen to the lectures and attend a minimum of 8 out of 12 tutorial/workshops in order to develop your practice skills and complete your assignments. 

Weekly readings and resources will be on Canvas.


Overview of Learning Resources

Readings required for this course are on Canvas. 

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through our online systems. 

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal. 


Overview of Assessment

This course has a mandatory attendance component in line with accreditation requirements from the Australian Association of Social Workers.  
 
Mandatory attendance requirements: in order to complete the assessments you must attend all the relevant skills workshops. For this course this will be a minimum of 9 out of the 12 workshops in the semester. For more information please see the course guide and the CANVAS course page. 

Mandatory attendance is necessary to demonstrate to the accrediting body (Australian Association of Social Workers) that students are competent and are being sufficiently assessed against practice-focused professional standards throughout the course of their program. 
 
If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program manager or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more. 

Assessment Tasks 

Assessment Task 1: In class - Case note writing (20%) CLO2, CLO3 and CLO4 

Assessment Task 2: In class - Mapping your decolonising journey, 20%, CLO1, CLO2, CLO 3, CLO 6 and CLO 7. 

Assessment Task 3:  Critical reflection and skill development journals, 10% CLO2, CLO3, CLO 4 and CLO 6.  

Assessment Task 4: Video of an interview role-play and a completed psycho-social assessment based on that interview. 50%. CLO 1,CLO 2, CLO 3, CLO 4 and CLO 5.  

 

Feedback will be given on all assessment tasks. 

If you have a long term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program manager or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more. 

Your course assessment conforms to RMIT assessment principles, regulations, policies, procedures and instructions.